Repairing Bossons

In the 1960s and 1970s it was quite common to see chalkware figures in peoples homes, pubs and restaurants. Some of the features on the faces of these, were amazingly detailed, down to being almost able to see the pores in the skin. Two well knows makers were Bossons and Legend. I'm not sure if chalkware is the same as plaster of Paris, but it seems similar though perhaps slightly heavier. At the time it was also common for plaster of Paris figures to be given as prizes at fair ground side shows. However the chalkware of Bossons and Legend were clearly of much higher quality.

It was almost by chance that during 2006, I stumbled across one for sale on ebay. Having established more details about what these items were, I searched specifically first on Bossons and then on Legend. Quite a large number were up for sale. Prices varied considerably depending on rarity and condition. I noticed that quite a few for sale were in pretty poor shape, and out of curiosity, I decided to buy a couple of basket cases, to see if I could repair them. I did not expect to have the skill, nor to be able to devote the time to put them back into pristine condition, but I decided I would at least aim to make them presentable again.

The reason I titled this article Repairing Bossons rather than Restoring Bossons or Bossons Restoration, is because to my mind the word restoration implies returning to original condition. Much as I would like to have achieved that, I decided that at this stage I needed to set myself a more achievable goal.

The picture on the left above shows an ebay picture of one that I purchased for the grand sum of 1 pence (UK). That was less than 2 cents in US money, at the time of the auction. Of course the cost of shipping was outlandish when compared with the purchase price. The picture on the right is the same head after I had repaired it. I know the colour tones are very different. That is mainly due to different cameras being used under different lighting conditions. I did not repaint the whole face in a darker shade.

When the item arrived I was able to determine that there was severe chipping to the right shoulder and also at several points on the brim of the hat. I wasn't sure what material to use to fill these holes and build up the missing areas. I considered using white modeling clay, polyfilla, or some white tile grout mix. My first experiment was with white modeling clay. This was sufficiently successful, that I have not experimented further.

The brand I used was Sesco Paper Clay. I found it best to wet a small pea sized piece of clay with a couple of drops of water, squash it between the fingers and then to press it into the area needing to be repaired, using just my fingers. Smoothing of the surface was also achieved using a wet finger. Once dry, in the one spot which needed the most building up, I needed to add some more clay in the same way. Once all the clay was dry and was standing proud of the areas being repaired I used very fine emery paper to smooth the clay down level with it's surrounding areas. Even though the emery paper I was using felt almost smooth to my finger, it was more than abrasive enough to cut into the dried filler, so if you plan to use the same approach I suggest you seek out some very fine grain wet and dry.

Although I did not experience any problems, I have read general advice that chalkware and water do not get on well together. This is because the chalk is water soluble. I only used minimal amounts of water to wet the clay and it did not cause any problems, but it seems like a sensible precaution not to let the original plaster get too wet.

Once all was smooth and dry I used pastel acrylic paints to colour the areas I had repaired and most of the other areas where the paint had just flaked off, but had not needed filling. I am no artist and I'm sure others could do a much better job of colour matching, but at least I feel that I now have a displayable ornament (perhaps best if displayed in a darkish corner), where many people may have been tempted to consign it to the rubbish bin.